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2014 DV Australian winners

Vichel, I know your situation is slightly different given you were based in Canada, but can I ask how long it took the consulate to return your passport to you after the interview?

I'm sweating a little bit because I've got a flight booked for a fortnight after my interview and I'm hoping I've got enough time up my sleeve (I've read somewhere between three and five business days?). I know they say not to book a flight until you've got your passport back...but I need to head back to the US almost immediately and I couldn't afford to buy a ticket at a week's notice.
 
Thanks so much for this great info James88!! As soon as I know whether I've been approved I'm gonna start comparing my options. Health insurance in the US is something not to go without!!

Hey Crawf33, last time I went on a j1 visa I had my interview on the Tuesday morning and I got my passport back on the Friday. From what I've read with the diversity visa, the main thing that will delay your visa is if you haven't got all your documents in order eg police check or something. Other than that, I reckon two weeks you should be fine!
 
Well its not long now till we get the ball rolling with interviews n such. I am going to get my first round of shots this week.... sigh.
 
And hopefully someone will ring the KCC and get an early release of the next lot of CN cut offs for december. It is going to be interesting to see what the next jump will be, given that there are four thousand of us waiting.
 
December Interview and Vaccinations...

mijoro said:
Roxy what range is your CN number?
Click to expand...

Under 650 really just need the Aus police checks and medicals - have taken a look at the last few years and seems sort of 50/50 whether it will be a Dec interview...although last year it wasn't until Feb (that was one if the latest years). So wondering what month at this stage the family will be going on a short "holiday" to Sydney...guess I just have to wait until October 10th! Vaccinations - what do we need? I would have had them all but no records - been through the Eastern block and Africa - I have all the kids records but not mine or hubbys?

Thanks
 
NJames said:
Hey Crawf33, last time I went on a j1 visa I had my interview on the Tuesday morning and I got my passport back on the Friday. From what I've read with the diversity visa, the main thing that will delay your visa is if you haven't got all your documents in order eg police check or something. Other than that, I reckon two weeks you should be fine!
Click to expand...

That's a relief! Thanks for the heads-up. My documents are definitely all squared away.
 
Crawf33 said:
Vichel, I know your situation is slightly different given you were based in Canada, but can I ask how long it took the consulate to return your passport to you after the interview?

I'm sweating a little bit because I've got a flight booked for a fortnight after my interview and I'm hoping I've got enough time up my sleeve (I've read somewhere between three and five business days?). I know they say not to book a flight until you've got your passport back...but I need to head back to the US almost immediately and I couldn't afford to buy a ticket at a week's notice.
Click to expand...

I don't mean to scare you but when I read your question I recalled one of my fellow DV2013 OC winners, Petamiss, experiencing a bit of a delay in getting hers back. I looked back at our old thread and see that Sydney seems to tell everyone 5 working days but hers took 2 weeks. That was the only one I recall being later than usual though, so I think you'd be safe in expecting your passport back in time - within the promised 5 business days. Maybe let them know your plans and the need to absolutely have your passport back and perhaps they'll get yours out first? Good luck with that and your interview!

Ours was done real quick, out of Montreal. We had them courier it out to BC and we were still in Montreal when it arrived there. Less than 5 business days.
 
Vichel said:
I don't mean to scare you but when I read your question I recalled one of my fellow DV2013 OC winners, Petamiss, experiencing a bit of a delay in getting hers back. I looked back at our old thread and see that Sydney seems to tell everyone 5 working days but hers took 2 weeks. That was the only one I recall being later than usual though, so I think you'd be safe in expecting your passport back in time - within the promised 5 business days. Maybe let them know your plans and the need to absolutely have your passport back and perhaps they'll get yours out first? Good luck with that and your interview!

Ours was done real quick, out of Montreal. We had them courier it out to BC and we were still in Montreal when it arrived there. Less than 5 business days.
Click to expand...

Yep that's the one random chance I was worried about (and will continue to be worried about). But like you said, the majority were quickly returned and I can always let the consulate staff member know of my situation and see if there's anything they can do to expedite it.

Thanks Vichel!
 
I'm just curious. I always assume that Australia is another developed country where the people have no real incentive to move to USA. If you want to move, it's about personal preference or familiarity or having relatives in USA rather than about making more money. Is this true, or is USA still much better economically?
 
My husband works in IT for a firm in Silicon Valley (worked and lived there, now is offshore in Australia). For his field, the salary is better in the US. Add that to my love of the place and there is a couple of our reasons :)

Hoping this will be a year I can post in 'winners' sections for real :)

Q
 
I am in the Gaming Industry so there is much more opportunity for me in America. Plus add that to the fact that I love America it just makes sense to be there.
 
Is anyone here concerned over the real possibility of a US government shut-down? I've read that in the event of a shut-down, visas will not be issued at consulates and embassies, unless deemed as an "emergency". Don't mean to scare anyone, and I'm sure everything will pan out fine (in the past, the federal government usually strikes some last-minute deal to avert shut-down). Anyone else read into this?
 
I got a tiny bit of relief from this (via NBC News):

"The State Department could continue processing foreign applications for visas and U.S. applications for passports, since fees are collected to finance those services."

TAKE MY MONEY. PLEASE.

Edit: On top of that, the longest shutdown in history was 21 days in 1995-1996. I realise that would mess up your AOS interview date, but I'm sure it'd just be pushed back a couple of days.
 
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Crawf33 said:
I got a tiny bit of relief from this (via NBC News):

"The State Department could continue processing foreign applications for visas and U.S. applications for passports, since fees are collected to finance those services."

TAKE MY MONEY. PLEASE.

Edit: On top of that, the longest shutdown in history was 21 days in 1995-1996. I realise that would mess up your AOS interview date, but I'm sure it'd just be pushed back a couple of days.
Click to expand...


I actually think the opposite is the case... USCIS is "user-pays" so business as usual, so my AOS interview will go ahead as planned. Department of State (US consulates) would not process any visas, except emergencies, and embassies will only exist to provide assistance to US citizens.

That's what I read here...
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/potential-us-government-shutdown-and-i-48730/

I'm sure everything will work out in the next few days anyway, it always does... Ridiculous that the US government gets itself into this mess so often!
 
Hi everyone,

I have been selected at number 11XX, and about to go overseas for a little while. I realise I have to come back to Sydney for interview/medical/etc but does anyone have some confirmed info on what I would need to prepare in preparation for an interview?

With the national police check, is this with finger prints as well?

If anyone who has an interview coming up and has prepared documents/info can assist, would be great!

I haven't received my 2nd NL yet, but want to be ready. I also read because I am from South Australia that I can just get my medical (in Sydney) on the same day as my interview, then they forward these documents to the consulate. Has anyone done this on the same day?
 
bman85 said:
Hi everyone,

I have been selected at number 11XX, and about to go overseas for a little while. I realise I have to come back to Sydney for interview/medical/etc but does anyone have some confirmed info on what I would need to prepare in preparation for an interview?

With the national police check, is this with finger prints as well?

If anyone who has an interview coming up and has prepared documents/info can assist, would be great!

I haven't received my 2nd NL yet, but want to be ready. I also read because I am from South Australia that I can just get my medical (in Sydney) on the same day as my interview, then they forward these documents to the consulate. Has anyone done this on the same day?
Click to expand...

I was in a similar boat in August mate. I have a case number that *could* have landed me an October interview, but I was scheduled to fly to the US for a holiday on August 28. I missed the October cut by less than 10 spots, and I was disappointed because I wanted to get the medical and police check out of the way before I left for my holiday.

But because I was confident my interview would now be in early November, I rolled the dice and called the medical clinic in Brisbane to see if they'd do the check-up anyway. They said as long as I was confident the interview would be within six months (i.e. the examination expiration date) then they could book me in. I also went to the local police station and did the full fingerprint check - it was about $180 from memory.

I haven't read anything about the medical being done the same day as the interview but that sounds sketchy to me. My results took a week to be ready after my examination, and I picked them up rather than having them forwarded to the consulate. But I'm in Brisbane so I could be totally wrong.
 
Do NOT wait till the day of the interview to get it done. Bad Bad idea, you can check on the website and get it done in your state. Have you had all of the required injections?
 
bman85 said:
Hi everyone,

I have been selected at number 11XX, and about to go overseas for a little while. I realise I have to come back to Sydney for interview/medical/etc but does anyone have some confirmed info on what I would need to prepare in preparation for an interview?

With the national police check, is this with finger prints as well?

If anyone who has an interview coming up and has prepared documents/info can assist, would be great!

I haven't received my 2nd NL yet, but want to be ready. I also read because I am from South Australia that I can just get my medical (in Sydney) on the same day as my interview, then they forward these documents to the consulate. Has anyone done this on the same day?
Click to expand...

Yeah, bad idea as has been pointed out. For one thing, the day of the interview could involve a lot of waiting. But also as pointed out the medical results will take a few days to get to the consulate. If the medical results don't get there in time for the interview then you will be on AP pending those results - so you can't travel anyway since you'll have to hang around for the AP to finish and then get the visa stamped...
 
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